US stock futures wavered before the bell, as Wall Street looked to end a volatile week on a high note. Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) were down 0.2%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F) slumped 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) edged lower by 0.1%.
Markets are nearing the end of the most volatile week of the 2024 campaign. Monday saw the worst rout of the year, and Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — the CBOE Volatility Index (^VIX) — soared to its highest levels since the throes of the pandemic.
By Thursday, a reassuring look at the labor market — in the form of the normally routine report on weekly jobless claims — had given investors reason to buy back in. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both rallied over 2%, with the S&P posting its best day since late 2022 — a remarkable feat, considering the breadth of 2024’s rally overall.
In the end, with a modest rally on Friday, the major indices could end the week near where they started it. After Thursday’s session, the benchmark S&P 500 was down about 0.5% from last Friday’s close. All the more reason, as many strategists told Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman in the Morning Brief newsletter, to stay calm amid the chaos.
Friday is a quiet day, with no notable economic releases or earnings on the docket. In individual movers, Nvidia (NVDA) will again be in focus after wild swings of its own this week. Its stock rose slightly in pre-market trading. Meanwhile, Paramount (PARA) stock jumped over 5% after it announced its first-ever streaming profit and said it planned layoffs over the coming year.
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